[December 17 (4), 1917]

In the Name of the Republic, the Council of People's Commissars decrees:

1. The Petrograd district and local Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies and the Soviets of Peasants' Deputies must immediately requisition all private-commercial warehouses of agricultural machines and implements, as well as assorted and roofing iron, nails, and other metal goods necessary for peasant use.

2. Regarding the requisitioned agricultural machines and implements and the extent of local need for them, immediately report to the Council of People's Commissars for the purpose of directing them to the Volost Land Committees or local Peasants' Soviets for distribution among needy peasants; the use of these machines and implements is to be prioritized by needy peasants in the first instance. Ownership of the machines remains with the State, and the district soviets of peasants' deputies, as well as the volost land committees, must administer these machines, while most rigorously safeguarding public property.

---

1 The draft was discussed at a session of the Council of People's Commissars on December 17 (4), 1917, on the report of P. A. Kozmín (commissar of the department for provisioning agriculture with instruments of production and metals). Upon preliminary review, Lenin made amendments to the draft in pencil (the draft was printed on

Why only Petrograd?